I Read Too Much

A few weeks ago I shared that I was starting another blog.  One based on my favorite subject and the one I would most like to teach - Personal Finance.  Well, I did!  I would love it if you would click on over and take a look-see at the information shared.  Let me know your thoughts. https://wheretherealnumbersare.blogspot.com/ For those who have asked.  No, I am not giving up on my pursuit of teaching in an academic setting.  I am currently tailoring my resume (at the advice of a friend who is an Adjunct) to the exact subject I want to teach.  As contradictory as that sounds to my favorite subject (ahem....what I linked above), I am leaning towards Business Communications.  Why?  Because, I have spent numerous years being the written and spoken voice for the companies I have worked for and enjoy the nuances of language and the cadence that comes from a well-articulated conversation and argument. If you know of open positions at any uni...

I watched a video a little while ago.  This mere days after reading a quote. I had a conversation with someone only yesterday.  What do all of these have in common?  On their face, they were ideas had by others.  Deeper, they all built upon a simple truth.  Bare with me as I put these all together. The video was of  Lou Holtz giving a commencement speech, you may have seen it.  He said, "Never tell your problems to anyone.  20 % don't care and the other 80% are glad you have them."  The quote was by A.W. Tozer.  He said, "We are not to look or act like other people; rather we are to look like Christ. We are to do the things Christ would do in the power and the demonstration of the Holy Spirit." The conversation yesterday consisted of living life focused on God and becoming who He designed you to be. You may be wondering how all of these fit together.  Honestly, I didn't see it at first either.  In fact, it was only this mor...

I got to thinking recently about church.  My church.  The church. And what church is.  I've been struggling with what makes a good church, what makes a great church, and what my role in both are. I know this seems like a loaded topic.  In fact, the church, as a whole, has been lamb-basted for quite some time.  First, as a Christian, I can say with a firm level of certainty that there is no level of perfection this side of eternity.  There is no person who has all the right answers and there is no set of people who are doing it all the right way.  Knowing this, I've still been struggling lately with a few things concerning the church. My church is filled with people from all walks of life.  We have business owners, community leaders, blended families, traditional families, single-parent families, seniors, and young alike.  So what makes us any better or worse than anyone else?  The simple answer is, the people. Yes.  The broken-dow...

"In their hearts humans plan their course, but the Lord establishes their steps."  Proverbs 16:9 I need to be honest with you here, I'm not sure if this is a good verse or a bad verse.  Now, before you get all hinky about me saying out loud there are bad verses of scripture, I need you to know I don't believe that at all.  Moreso, I believe perception can lead one (ahem, me) to believe that.  See, there's a HUGE difference.  I digress. I've not made it a secret, in the least, concerning my goals and dreams.  I have long held this thought I would become a teacher/professor and my life would be complete.  I didn't expect the process to be easy any more than I expected it to be difficult. However, what I am learning is that while I have been planning my course...someone else has been establishing my steps.  And frankly, I do not know what to do next.  I have had some great advice, such as: wait on the Lord, be patient with the process, get p...

My entire life I have struggled with not being good enough and not being seen.  In some situations, this would cause me to point out things others did wrong in order to make my insignificance a little less so. Or in others it would lead me to brag about the smallest of things in order to be noticed. I grew up in a trailer park which sat at the top of a hill from a lake.  At the bottom of the hill, around the lake, was a campground.  I lived in the most magical place on Earth, or so my young self thought. I had friends and adventures.  I had the freedom to play and grow the way kids of the 80's did. Despite all this, I was still picked on relentlessly up through middle school. We moved in high school, I thought it would change, but the only thing that did was the trailer park we lived in.  You see, I had unfortunate growth cycles - this offered me many more years of roundness than height. I've also been plagued with poor eyesight, fine hair, and a challenging c...

One of the devotionals I read recently talked about the most effective tool in the enemy's toolbox.  This tool is one common to everyone and one that debilitates, to some degree, all who pick it up or even happen upon in.  I hate to admit the number of times, I too, have fallen to the pull of this tool.  To be honest, I've been holding it firmly in my hands with a white-knuckled grip lately.  This tool and I have gotten to know each other.  There are some days where I can't see how life could function any other way.  Then there are days where the freedom of a victory causes me to set the tool down and walk in the blessed assurance that all is right and good in my life. Discouragement is a mighty tool of the enemy.  People I am so discouraged right now.  It feels like one step forward and two steps back with things. In fact, I have begun to question whether having goals and dreams and desires is even worthwhile.  Most especially when I am tr...

There comes a time in life where you expect to have finally arrived.  What that arrival looks like for you is wholly dependent upon the thing(s) that drive you.  Me, I wanted to have a career I cared about and a feeling of self-worth.  Before you click off and chose something else to read, hear me out on this.  I have long maintained my favorite book of the Bible is Ecclesiastes; it still is.  I love that book for a myriad of reasons, but most of all because the author got it.  He just did.  Solomon was a great guy.  He had more wisdom than anyone else in all of history and yet still had issues.  I love the story of how he became the wisest person to ever be.  When he came into power, so-to-speak, the Lord asked him to name whatever it was that he wanted.  He could have the cattle on 1000 hills, he could be stronger than any man alive, he could, well, be anyone and anything.  Instead, he, in all his humbleness, simply asked for...